Day: 8/22/2018

Trump, Fox News Callously Exploit Mollie Tibbetts Murder, But Suspect Might Not Even Be Illegal

Posted by on August 22, 2018 at 4:52 pm. NO Comments :

The latest hyperactive frenzy on Fox News is a tragic story about a murdered college student, Mollie Tibbets. Her body was found after having been missing for more than a month. And a suspect is now custody. That suspect has been the subject of a relentless media barrage from Fox News who immediately labeled him an “illegal immigrant.” But all is not what Fox says (as usual).

Fox News, Mollie Tibbetts

First and foremost, the Des Moines Register is reporting that Cristhian Bahena Rivera was in the U.S. legally. This is according to his lawyer who said that he is “Sad and sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter in national media which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members.” The story went on to say:

“Rivera has lived in Iowa for four to seven years, working at Yarrabee Farms, a Brooklyn-area farm owned by several family members, including brothers Eric, Dane and Craig Lang. Craig Lang, a prominent Republican, has verified that Rivera is in Iowa legally, according to Richards’ motion.

“‘Craig Lang supports Cristhian’s right to be in this jurisdiction and for the government to support any other idea of status publicly flies in the face of such statement,’ Richards wrote.”

Nevertheless, Donald Trump posted a tweet assailing the suspect as undocumented, despite evidence to the contrary. And then he went on to politicize the tragedy by calling for his idiotic and useless wall to be built. Even worse, he adopted rhetoric associated with the children that he and his inhumane administration ripped from the arms of their parents, torturing these families, hundreds of whom he is still unable to reunite. He said that:

“Mollie Tibbets is now permanently separated from her family. A person came in from Mexico illegally and killed her. We need the wall.”

For its part, Fox News elevated this story to the top of their broadcasts, even above the felony convictions of Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and personal attorney, Michael Cohen. As heartbreaking as Mollie’s story is, the prospects of the nation’s president being implicated in criminal acts should take precedence on a national “news” network. It’s not as if Fox is just generally concerned about the welfare of innocent college students who have been murdered. After all, they never blanketed their coverage for any of these stories where the suspect was American:

And those are just a few of the sad stories from this year. Clearly Fox News, and Trump, are using Mollie’s murder to advance their racist political agenda. They couldn’t care less about her or her family. If they did they wouldn’t have made the suspect’s immigration status – which is still unconfirmed – a feature of their reporting. Nor would they have pushed for the purely partisan and divisive construction of a border wall. The Tibbets family should be outraged at having been used this way. And at least one member of the family is. A cousin tweeted a response to a racist comment by frequent Fox News guest Candace Owens that really says it all:

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Michael Cohen’s Lawyer Drops Truth Bomb on Fox News: Rhetoric Without Facts is Too Common on Fox

Posted by on August 22, 2018 at 1:50 pm. NO Comments :

In the wake of the felony convictions of Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and personal attorney, Michael Cohen, Fox News has endeavored to trivialize these historically unprecedented events. Their tactics include sweeping these legal bombshells under other stories that don’t have the national scope of presidential corruption, but which fit into the Fox themes of wingnuttery and racism. Or they entirely dismiss the crimes as even being criminal (which Trump did himself Wednesday morning on Twitter).

Fox News, nuclear Bomb

Joining the parade of propaganda, Fox News host Eric Shawn interviewed Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, on Wednesday’s episode of America’s Newsroom. Shawn thought he was going to bury Davis with a question that stuffed every Clinton cliche imaginable into thirty seconds of blather. But Davis wasn’t having it (video below):

Fox News: What do you say to those who say there should be a special counsel investigating the Clinton, the DNC, the dossier, Christopher Steele, and the way this was handled by the Department of Justice and FBI officials. Some of whom have been fired and certainly showed a distaste for Donald Trump becoming President of the United States.
Davis: First of all, you didn’t state a single fact involving the Clintons. And although I have a lot of friends at Fox, and have been a Fox guest on almost every show, that kind of rhetoric without facts is, unfortunately, too common on Fox shows. So state me facts of what Bill and Hillary Clinton actually have done that would suggest anything illegal suggesting a special counsel.

Shawn didn’t take Davis up on his request for facts. Davis did, however, masterfully let Fox News have it on their own air. Shawn’s question was reeking of bias and a predetermined mindset that Clinton is the real criminal. Never mind that she has been investigated for thirty years by hostile Republicans who still couldn’t find any trace of wrongdoing. Shawn’s reference to Steele and his dossier ignores the fact that much of it has been confirmed and that none of it has been proved untrue. And the only reason there is a distaste for Trump among law enforcement officials is because they know what he’s done. It’s like complaining that the police, after investigating, had a distaste for Charles Manson. Who wouldn’t?

What’s more, the knee-jerk reaction by Trump and so many of his sycophants/surrogates to point their fingers at the Clintons or Obama is merely their obvious attempt to change the subject by way of a scheme now known as “whataboutism.” Trump’s cult followers simply can’t focus on any of the facts about his crimes without resorting to whining about factless allegations involving retired Democrats.

That’s a pretty good indication that they have no coherent response to Team Trump’s crime spree. If they did they would present it, and not jingle their keys at the camera as a distraction. Then again, that’s just the sort of thing that compels the attention of babies and Trump supporters who have trouble comprehending the real world.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

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